Sprinkles on the sidelines. A mascot taunting a referee. A true ritualistic sacrifice powered by a giant toaster. No, this isn’t a trailer for a new Ryan Reynolds movie; this is big-time college football.

Last month, the No. 18 Iowa State Cyclones (11-3, 7-2 Big 12) knocked off the No. 13 Miami Hurricanes (10-3, 6-2 ACC) in the Pop-Tarts Bowl in Orlando. Yes, there is a Pop-Tarts postseason game, and it’s about five times as insane as whatever you’re imagining right now.

The silliness peaked in the middle of the first quarter when the three Pop-Tart mascots met near the end zone to watch a tribute video to last year’s toasted mascot, Frosted Strawberry.

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As Charlie Puth and Wiz Khalifa’s “See You Again” blasted through the speakers at Camping World Stadium with an accompanying video montage of the mascot, a revived Strawberry walked out on top of the stadium scoreboard to the delighted cheers of the fans below.

As a dedicated college football fan, I’ve witnessed the decline in the status of bowl games over the past decade. Although I usually pay close attention to bowl season, this year, the Pop-Tarts Bowl was one of the only non-playoff bowl games that I managed to watch.

Bowls have become glorified spring games, with teams fielding weaker rosters that look more like summer practice squads than fall depth charts. With the opening of the transfer window and players choosing to opt out in preparation for the NFL draft, rosters are left decimated.

The transfer period is becoming a major issue in itself: This past season, Marshall University (10-3, 7-1 Sun Belt) chose to withdraw from its Independence Bowl matchup against No. 22 Army (12-2, 8-0 AAC), because 36 players jumped into the transfer portal after Head Coach Charles Huff left the school for the same job at the University of Southern Mississippi.

As for opt-outs, while I understand the merits of the decision from a player standpoint, stars choosing not to play in the final game of the season can take the air out of the best of matchups, no matter how you justify it.

The 2023 Orange Bowl is probably the most dramatic example of this. In the 90th edition of the storied bowl game, Georgia was set to face a 13-0 Florida State team who was — in the worst snub of the century —  left out of the four-team playoff field.

The Seminoles had lost starting redshirt senior quarterback Jordan Travis a month earlier to injury and were denied a chance at a title because of it. Still, Florida State could have made a run at an unbeaten season and shown the committee that they slipped up and made a mistake.

Georgia was no slouch either; the Bulldogs spent nearly the entire year at No. 1 until suffering an upset loss to Alabama in the SEC Championship Game, knocking them out of the four-team bracket. This Orange Bowl game had all the makings of a classic, with two playoff-level teams duking it out for bragging rights.

Instead, nine Florida State players who had declared for the NFL draft chose to skip the game, and the Seminoles’ backup quarterback chose to transfer, along with 13 other players. Florida State’s offense was reduced to a third-string redshirt freshman quarterback running the show in his second career start, and at least one wideout had to play out of position at halfback.

In contrast, Georgia had no voluntary opt-outs and destroyed the Seminoles 63-3. The game went down as the worst blowout in bowl game history.

I turned that Orange Bowl off midway through the second quarter. I’ve been trying to adjust to this new era of college football, but the truth is that the game is beginning to grow away from me.

I didn’t care for the seismic conference realignment, which added four West Coast teams to a conference based in the heart of the Midwest. I didn’t care much for the New Year’s bowls being shoehorned into the playoff bracket, with teams playing two bowl games in ten days.

Of course, the Pop-Tarts Bowl wasn’t immune from opt-out controversy either. Redshirt senior quarterback — and potential future top-ten pick — Cam Ward guided Miami to a 31-28 lead at the break before sitting out the second half.

Social media was heated, with commentators, fans and broadcasters across the country fiercely debating Ward’s character and leadership skills. Backup sophomore quarterback Emory Williams took the reins in the second half, but the Hurricanes walked out of Camping World Stadium with a 42-41 loss.

After Iowa State’s victory, redshirt junior quarterback Rocco Becht was named the game’s MVP, and he was asked to send one of the three Pop-Tart mascots to the toaster. Becht picked Cinnamon Roll.

The mascot selected by Becht then walked to the giant toaster in the middle of the field, climbed up the ladder, and stood over the slot. Cinnamon Roll was toasted alive, holding a “FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS” sign. A giant, edible cinnamon roll Pop-Tart popped out of the other side, for Becht and the rest of his Cyclone teammates to enjoy.

Bowl or not, college football doesn’t get much better than that.

Darrian Merritt is a freshman writing about the cultural and popular appeal of sports in his column, “The Notebook,” which runs every other Monday.